Hey, everyone. Miss me?

Nice seeing you again, Brsk.

Zelda2h2: I'm so glad you're enjoying this! And Story Time With Remy LeBeau will always be a favorite of mine.

Xmengal: Thanks for the review. It was greatly appreciated.

Zany: Thanks again for reviewing. And I greatly appreciated your breakdown of the plots/Remy and Rogue's psyche. It was on point and interesting to hear from your perspective.

Whitechocolate14: Emma is just around. She and Scott are kinda-sorta thinking about dating, but after he broke up with Jean, nothing is definite. She hasn't had anything major happen, but she pops up from time to time. And no, it isn't Silver Foxx, but good guess.

Hawaiian Snow: I have been reading X-Men Legacy. Holy moly, do I love it! I kinda hate Rogue's new costume (it's that stupid scarf) but it's great.

H.K. Rissing: Glad I could be of service =) If there's anything that I can do to help ya out, just shoot me a message.

fumblingwords: Your art was FANTASTIC. I looked at your other stuff and you are so crazy talented. I'm flattered I was able to help inspire you.

Everyone else, all of your reviews are read and appreciated. Thank you so much guys. I hope you enjoy.

XXXXX

Rogue was wearing her gloves again, which meant he was in trouble.

One thing that Remy really appreciated about his girlfriend was that she was very vocal about her feelings. It was never a guessing game with Rogue. When he was still with Belladonna, he never knew what he was doing wrong. She would all of the sudden be giving him the silent treatment or throwing an expensive vase at his head for some offense he was not even remotely aware of.

But Rogue let him know exactly what was bothering her. Sometimes she threw things too, but at least he knew what a combat boot was being tossed at his head.

However, she indicated her sour feelings in a different way too. Subtler ways. Like wearing gloves.

It took some time, but Remy understood that gloves were Rogue's comfort. She didn't always wear them but sometimes when she was feeling particularly vulnerable, she did. And after their dance, she had been wearing them again. Which meant that while she may not have been seething with rage, everything between them was not perfect again.

Remy didn't know how to right it, either.

On the surface, everything was okay. They were normal on the surface. But then she would kiss him and he would pull away just a moment too soon. He would reach for her hand and her fingers would so slowly slip from his. It didn't help that he was still receiving phone calls from Henri. Most of the time, it was when he was in private. But from time to time, he and Rogue would be pressed together when his phone rang. He tried to ignore it and she tried to not mind but the tension was very much there.

He wanted to find a middle ground to make them both happy, but he could not think of one. He wanted to talk to his brother and she didn't want him to. How were the supposed to resolve this?

Not like there was a whole lot of time to find a resolution. In the last couple of weeks, the mansion was abuzz in preparation for a handful of new students they were getting. Rumors were flying of coming changes. Remy paid no attention to these rumors; he was more interested in Rogue.

He saw that she and Logan were speaking privately a lot. Like they were sharing a secret. Planning something. Something he didn't know about.

And Remy LeBeau so hated to not know about a secret.

Plus, he was not so fond of the badger getting more time with his girlfriend than him. Not to say that he was jealous. Remy was not the jealous type. Not by any means. No way. But could you blame a guy for being a little anxious when he saw the woman he loved constantly talking to another man?

He assured himself he had nothing to be afraid of. It was just Logan; an older man with lots of muscles and a motorcycle and some self control issues. It wasn't like Rogue was into that kind of guy, right?

…right?

And anyway, it was a perfectly rational and natural reaction to see the two of them together, speaking in hushed voices and wanting to blow something up. Blow something big up.

Remy LeBeau was not, by any means, jealous.

He just wanted to know what in the blue hell was going on with his Rogue.

Not like there was very much time to investigate. For the arrival of the new students distracted almost everyone from whatever personal issues they may have. The arrival of the new recruits also marked that the X-Men officially had a team member with every hair color imaginable.

Jean was the red head. Emma was the blonde. Kitty was the brunet. Betsy was the one with the purple hair and Lorna the one with the green. Rogue had her two tones. Ororo had her snow white locks.

Now there was an adorable girl named Megan with bright pink hair. The kind of pink that gave Remy a headache and made Kitty squeal with glee. Megan called herself Pixie and beyond the pixie-like wings on her back, Remy had no clue what her powers may be.

Besides flight and the ability to give him a migraine with just one look at her head.

Then there was a boy, Quentin Somethingoranother. Remy didn't know the boy's name, nor did he care. The kid rubbed him the wrong way. He was a powerful telepath from what Remy had gathered and that resulted in the boy having an ego so massive it rivaled….

Well, it rivaled Remy's massive ego.

But Remy's ego was well-liked and handsome and capable of humility. Quentin, with his purple mohawk that Remy just knew wasn't natural, was an arrogant little snot that looked down on his fellow classmates in a way that didn't sit well with the thief. He had a bad feeling about Quentin.

Besides. Remy was perfectly capable of filling the arrogance quota at the Xavier Institute without the help of some child who thought he was ready to play with the big boys.

That and Betsy's purple hair looked much nicer than Quentin's.

One-Eye's brother from Hawaii (Remy didn't even know Scott had a Hawaiian brother) had also joined their ranks. The blond seemed to much less annoying than his stick-in-the-ass older brother and had become fast friends with Bobby and Lorna. The trio seemed like a solid one, but Remy doubted they would last too long.

He noticed the way Alex gave Lorna sidelong looks when he thought no one was watching.

There was another blonde among them now. A cute one with a big smile who was always singing to herself. Remy met her when he damn near crashed into her when she came rollerblading—rollerblading!—through the foyer. She giggled and introduced herself as Alison.

"But you can call me Dazzler," she added, winking her pretty blue eyes at him.

She was sweet and cute as a button and annoying as sin. Remy imagined she and Kitty would be fast friends. Which meant he would have two adorable preps to grate his nerves.

Fantastic.

The girl Tessa Sage though…he liked her. She was quiet, but he was able to tell it was not from shyness. Sage was smart and analytical. He thought, though he wasn't positive, that her powers were centered around her mind. How she gathered information. He didn't know though. Sage had beautiful, dark hair.

Sooraya, the quiet Muslim girl garbed head to toe in a hijab, said very little though. Whereas Sage was quiet because she was observant, Sooraya was silent because she was shy and uncomfortable. Remy had barely heard her utter a sound beyond the word "dust." He thought maybe he just imagined it because that was such an odd thing to say.

And finally, there was the girl who simply wanted to be called Foxx. She was a lovely girl in her own way. Her skin rivaled Rogue's in paleness but that was where the similarities ended. Her eyes were a bright yellow, bright enough for Remy to notice despite being on the opposite side of the room. Her long, straight hair was a darker shade of sky blue and framed her face in a complimentary manner, falling to her waist. Despite her odd features, she was an exotic beauty.

The few times she looked at Remy, it was with a flirtatious little smile. Cute as she may be, he was uninterested in any possible advances. He had his Rogue.

His Rogue, who was once again speaking to Logan in a hushed voice.

Everyone was mulling about the common area, getting to know one another. True to his nature, Remy chose to hang back and watch, rather than interact. His eyes watched his old and new teammates, trying to get a feel for how well they may or may not mesh. But eventually, his red and black eyes found themselves on Rogue and Logan once more.

What were those two up to?

XXXXX

Rogue had entered the common room so she could get acquainted with her new teammates, something that was normally not her style. Usually, whenever they got new recruits, she would just meet the newbies whenever they happened to bump into each other. She had never actively sought out anyone's attention.

Except for that time before Remy joined the X-Men, but whatever. He was stalking her so it was partly his fault anyway. Totally didn't count.

Any other time, Rogue would not have made an attempt to meet her new teammates. Any other time, she would have stuck around long enough for the Professor to make formal introductions before heading to her room to read. Or maybe participate in some alone time with Remy LeBeau.

Except she and Remy weren't on the best terms at the moment.

Rogue shook the thought and forced herself to focus on why she was here in the first place. She had been unable to stop thinking about her and Logan's conversation from a couple of weeks prior. The opportunity to start her own team. She wasn't sure if she wanted that for herself but she didn't want to rule it out either.

Which is why she was here. To meet and greet and see if she saw any potential teammates. See if she could see herself taking charge.

On and off, she and Logan would speak. He would give her updates on the possible new teams. A small word of advice here and there. Nothing was official quite yet but she was on her toes.

So the southerner entered the common area with the rest of the X-Men. Instantly, she felt someone's eyes on her. She did not have to turn around to know it was her boyfriend. He always stared at her whenever she entered a room.

Only this time, she made no effort to return his eye contact. They still were not on the best of terms, though she could not say they were exactly fighting. Everything was very tense. Both of them seemed to be waiting for the other to make the first move. What that first move would entail, she had no clue. All she knew was, until something erupted, nothing between them would be quite right.

It probably didn't help that Remy was acting like a jealous five year old. He thought she wasn't aware, but she could read him pretty well. And she knew that her conversations with Logan were driving him insane. He liked to pretend he wasn't the jealous type but the fact was, if he didn't have Rogue's complete and undivided attention, he would have a fit.

She mentally rolled her eyes.

Big baby.

He could deny it all he wanted, but her talking to Logan probably made him so frustrated, he would want to blow something up.

Something big.

It was, like Remy, both amusing and frustrating.

Before she could get too far into the room, Logan appeared out of nowhere and dragged her into a private corner. As he did so, Rogue could have sworn she felt Remy's eyes narrow.

How she was able to feel his eyes narrowing from across the room she was not certain of. She just chalked it up to another oddity of their relationship.

"What's up, Logan?" she asked, one they were out of earshot. Not like anyone was really paying attention. Everyone was gathered around the new kids, blabbering on about things Rogue could have cared less about.

"You volunteered to show some of the newbies on a tour of the mansion," he informed her.

Her eyebrows shot up. "I did?"

"I volunteered you, that is."

Oh, geez. All she planned on doing was stopping in and being a little friendly. Now all the sudden she had to give a tour. Still, she managed to keep her cool. "And why would you do that?"

"Chuck wants to see how you handle takin' charge of a group, even if it's in some small way like a tour. Plus, we're tryin' to see how you and the others might get along."

"Does that mean we're definitely gettin' those new teams?"

He shook his head. "Not until we see how y'all handle this."

"This bein' the tour?"

Logan gave her a secretive little smile.

Somewhere, across the room, she felt Remy's eyes narrow into two glowing, dangerous slits.

"The tour," he confirmed. "But it wouldn't hurt if you sorta…mentored some of these kids. Not that I'm suggestin' or hintin' at anythin', but it could be somethin' in your favor."

Rogue returned his little smile. "I see."

"And one word of advice, kid."

"Yeah?"

"I get that you and the Cajun are…" His nose wrinkled in the beginning of a snarl. "In love or whatever, but now that we have the newbies around, it couldn't hurt if you two turned down the PDA. Just a little."

XXXXX

Remy, in a fit that was not related to jealousy whatsoever, decided that perhaps he should take a walk instead of sticking around to watch his girlfriend smile and whisper with Logan. Especially when Remy was perfectly capable of smiling and whispering just as much as the badger was.

Hell, Remy was fantastic at smiling and whispering. If there was an award to given for those two talents, he would have won it long ago. And if he didn't win the award, he would have just stolen it.

Which is pretty much like winning it.

So Remy took a nice, long, not-related-to-jealousy walk. Just enough to clear his head and banish the thoughts of blowing up Logan's skeleton. By the time he returned, most of the residence had scattered from the common room. The only ones left were the same faces he had been seeing for months.

But no Rogue.

Which meant it was time for one of Remy's favorite activities: looking for and finding Rogue so he could pester her until she either kissed him or threatened to decapitate him.

It was always a fifty-fifty gamble as to which one she would do. And Remy so loved to gamble.

He poked his head in her room, but she was not there. Nor was she in the kitchen or the garage or the roof or the Danger Room or the rec room or the bathroom or the med bay.

So Remy eventually looked in the library because he knew of no other place where his beloved could be. And, much to his relief, she was there. She was there, along with Megan and Tessa and Foxx, talking and clearly showing the girls the ins and outs of the mansion. Which was odd, because last Remy checked, his girlfriend hated doing anything this social. Last Remy checked, she would sooner let Kitty drag her to the mall before she offered a tour.

Huh. Weird.

He would figure that out later. First, he had to gamble.

As Rogue went on about the library and the others pretended to find it interesting, he walked over and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Remy!" she squeaked, surprised.

"Miss me?"

He pulled her against him so there was no distance between their bodies. She pressed her hands to his chest; he noticed that she was wearing her stupid gloves again. Choosing to not let that deter him, he smiled his most rakish smile down at her, his hands sliding lower. He worked hard to not smirk at the raised eyebrows he got from the other girls.

Except Foxx. Her yellow eyes just watched them curiously.

"Rems, what are you doin'?" she asked, her eyes darting between him and the girls.

"What do you think, Cherie?" he asked, dipping his head down so he could steal a kiss.

Rogue moved her lips away. "Remy don't…"

"Why not?" Again, he moved in for a kiss. Once more, Rogue moved away.

"Remy, that isn't a good idea." Again, she looked at the newbies. She seemed nervous.

He had a comment about how she didn't seem to mind very public displays of affection in the past. He even planned on referencing the Pool Table Incident. But before he could effectively embarrass his girlfriend in front of their new teammates, she quickly detangled herself from his arms, slipping just out of his reach.

And somewhere, deep down inside, his heart ached a little upon feeling the loss of her in his arms. He remembered some months ago, when it was a little colder outside, how Rogue had grown distant from him. For a moment, he feared that they were going through a similar period.

But then he saw her look into his eyes. And she saw the hurt in his eyes. And she smiled apologetically, offering him her hand. Her hand, which he gladly took. And it assured him that while things were not great, they were not that bad either.

But still. She wore those gloves. And the tension was still there.

And that Foxx girl…she still observed them in a manner that was beginning to make him curious.

"This is my boyfriend Remy, girls," Rogue began, her voice formal. "Rems, this is Tessa, Megan, and Foxx."

Still holding onto Rogue's hand, Remy bowed lavishly. "Bonjour, ladies."

Megan giggled, her cheeks going red. A tiny smile very nearly tugged at Tessa's lips. And Foxx smiled at him. A smile that was both predatory and flirtatious.

Without his consent, she reached and grabbed his hand, shaking it enthusiastically. She looked up into his face, batting her long eyelashes and her bottom lip poked out in what looked like the beginnings of a seductive pout.

"Hi, Remy," she said, her voice breathy. The Cajun blinked in surprise. "I'm Foxx and it is very nice to meet you."

XXXXX

NEXT CHAPTER: Let the flirtation and intrusion begin!